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Saturday, July 31, 2010

Plants Vs Zombies is a game where you are supposed to plant plants on your backyard/roof/lawn which have different abilities that help you destroy zombies that are attacking your house. When a zombie meets a plant, he will eat it and keep walking towards your house, or until you destroy it. You plant plants by collecting sun, which is produced by the sun or sunflowers. Once a zombie eats its way to your house, it will enter the house and the game will say: THE ZOMBIES ATE YOUR BRAINS!

There are many different plants and zombies, like plants that shoot peas, explode, or shield your house from zombies. There are also many zombies, from normal, "garden-variety" zombies to zombies that drive trucks.

Despite it name, it is actually a very cute and child-friendly game. It is a game that requires you to use strategy, for example to plan where you want to place your plants before a zombie eats it, unlike the other mindless, simple games made by Popcap. You should try the trial version, and then leave your verdict of the game in the comments or chatbox!

I just came back from the SST selection camp, and i think that I have a good chance of getting in! First of all, we were split up into groups of 5. Then I had to write a personal statement about why I want to go to SST, and I wrote about three-quarters of a page in that 5 minutes that was assigned to me. So after that, my group was assigned a task.

My group's task was to design a device that allows the user to fish out items from quicksand. Thankfully, the "items" were plastic cups and one unopened mineral water bottle, and there was no quicksand. So we had 5 minutes to come up with a design, 10 minutes to make a decision on the design we wanted, and then 25 minutes to build the device and fish out the "items". So after a discussion, my group decided on a design that "clicks" on to the "item". So it worked pretty well, but when it came to the plastic bottle, we had a problem. The device wouldn't "click" to the bottle as it had no opening. So I came up with an idea to use mailing labels to stick the bottle to the device, and fortunately, it worked!

I felt that my group was cooperative, they listened and respected others' ideas and we worked pretty well together. So after a debrief by the teachers in SST, we were dismissed and were left to worry whether we got selected or not. I should get my results in about a month's time, on 31st August. Wish me luck!

Friday, July 30, 2010

I have to say that the film was good, with its special effects controlling most of the film. But however, i feel that the storyline of the movie was a little too simple. A high school nerd known as Dave has been chosen by sorcerer Balthazar Blake ( i spelled it correctly, didn't i?) to wear the dragon ring and be his apprentice. Then, the "bad guy" of the film was this guy called Horvath, and he wants to free his master, Morgana, from a prison that Balthazar kept her in. So after a long chasing around New York City, Morgana is finally freed, and Balthazar is killed. However, Dave, the apprentice, masters the use of magic and fights against Morgana. When all hope seemed lost, Dave made a makeshift Tesla coil and destroyed Morgana. Then, Dave uses electricity to revive Balthazar (like that cardioelectric...uh...whatever thing that zaps the heart to restart it). Then Balthazar wakes up and then there's a "Happily Ever After". Kinda cliche, i think. Nevertheless, i thought it was a good film, and there was some good humour in it. I think i would rate this show a 7.5/10. Good, but could use some improvements.

Today i just created this blog, customized it and such. This weekend, I will be going for the SST science camp for entry to SST. I'm kind of both excited and nervous, as this is my last shot to get to SST. (SST is 100% DSA, see.) I want to get to SST as it teaches through applied learning, not reading textbooks. I would rather perform my own experiments than read about it in a book. And best of all, each student will be issued an Apple Macbook! That's cool, assuming i'm only 12!